Mermaids do not exist, U.S. government agency confirms

(CNN) - One of John Athanson's earliest memories is seeing mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs, the "City of Live Mermaids."

Today, the 47-year-old is the public relations manager for Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, and has been for 10 years.

The park north of Tampa, Florida, hosts shows year-round involving women dressed as mermaids. It bills itself as "a magical entrance into a mysterious blue underwater world of mermaids, manatees, turtles and bubbles."

"If you ask me, (mermaids) do exist," Athanson said Thursday. "They exist, and they exist right here in Weeki Wachee."

He was responding to the U.S. government's fresh announcement to the contrary.

Mermaids do NOT exist, agency assures Americans after TV show prompts questions from viewers

The question as to whether mermaids are real or not was recently put to rest as a U.S. scientific agency confirmed the sea creatures do not exist.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have confirmed that there is no evidence that the half-human, half-fish beings are a genuine living species.

The agency made a statement last week clarifying that the sea species is not real after they received a few calls following a fictional Animal Planet show called Mermaids: The Body Found that confused some viewers as fact.

Ryan Lochte Dumped by Girlfriend Over the Phone

In some situations, even Ryan Lochte doesn't know what to do. During the talked-about May 26 episode of his E! reality series, What Would Ryan Lochte Do? the Olympic swimmer, 28, got a surprising phone call while out to dinner with his guy friends.

Noticing that it was his long distance on-and-off girlfriend of four years, Jaimee Hollier, Lochte said he felt compelled to answer it.

"I don't know why, but there's just something in me that was saying, 'Pick it up,'" he recalled in an on-camera interview afterwards.

UFO OVER SAN DIEGO

An alien spaceship from Planet Zeeba hovered over San Diego.

The spaceship – identified at first as a UFO – was first seen over Santee, California on May 7th.

The U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials sent Dr. Susan Begley to Santee to investigate. ”We gathered evidence from hundreds of eyewitnesses as well as studying numerous photographs and videos,” said Dr. Begley. ”This is clearly a spaceship from Planet Zeeba. But there is nothing for people in San Diego to worry about.”